Piltover's Reality Bug
by FrozenLotusOTP
Summary: The Glorious Evolution is upon the city of Piltover, and nothing is able to stop it thus far. Caitlyn struggles with the duty to uphold two fronts of obligations as she desperately attempts to hold the remains of her now chaotic city together. Should she help the people inside the virtual reality made to keep them "safe", or protect the few still on the outside? Read to find out.


Caitlyn paced around her office, lost in thought as a cloud of frustration fogged her mind. She didn't want to admit it, no one did, but they had to face the facts. Despite their best efforts the forces of Piltover were losing this war. The technological arms race was simply too fast paced to keep up with in the midst of the increasing number of attacks from Viktor's forces as well as the mobs of paranoid citizens rampaging through the streets for a place of presumed safety-considering this time to be the last days of the once great city. For all their innovation and creations for the convenience of those living there who conformed to the rules of their society, when backed into a corner most would focus more on satisfying their base needs than put them aside for the greater good.

Her eyes wearily tracked the movement of one such mob as it swarmed toward one of the smaller family run convenience stores in the poor district, the frenzied look in their eyes from what she could see from the observation camera bot hovering overhead the store. A part of her wished to turn away and mute the audio feed, taking in events that she could do nothing to rectify would serve no purpose and yet… She had to watch and listen, she had to take in every last moment of the inevitable assault in vivid detail as a reminder of the chaos that would ensue should she ever give up on her city. The sheriff could only shake her head as she watched the old and obviously crippled man who remained in the shop while the rest of his family fled out the back entrance with only the clothes on their backs stand defiantly against the crowd.

A rusted and near obsolete-when compared to the current day standards- home security robot shambled up beside him, shuddering and twitching erratically as it did so. Caitlyn was no robotics expert by any means, but even she could tell that the bot was more likely to explode or permanently shut down than to actually help defend in the last stand. Its arms creaked in protest as it swung them around in a fixed and ridged manner to cause the closest of the mob to back away a few steps. The pitiful hunk of metal began leaking oil down the crude optical drive and sensory hardware it had for a head, an obvious sign that it was on its last legs.

The mob began throwing bricks and mud at the defender, each strike doing relatively little damage but collectively beginning to overwhelm it. The old man hunched behind the robot's hulking frame-one of the few advantages of the robot being how large it was, making it a living shield in a pinch. His arms were buried deep within the maintenance hatch in the back, likely doing constant repairs to keep it up and running. It was a futile effort, everyone knew, but a stubbornly desperate one. The robot was if anything, equipped to handle perhaps one or two armed robbers in a store, not a two hundred strong mob of frantic vandals. After a few moments of being pelted with rocks, rotten food and mud, the security bot gave a finial groan of defiance while announcing an internal error before falling backward.

Caitlyn covered her mouth in shock as she watched the grandfather cry out in agony as he was crushed beneath the now useless hunk of metal, the audible snaps of his brittle bones inside the repair hatch echoing over the noise of the crowd. The mass paid the silently screaming man no mercy or heed as he thrashed out from under it in an attempt to break free. Instead they focused on the fruit of their labor, a small cache of canned goods and various shoddily made robotics gear crafted from knock off brands that lacked both price and quality of anything remotely decent. But the robbers did not care about the practicality of their loot in the slightest. It was of no consequence to them that, even if the roaming and persistent agents of the Evolution were even susceptible to the shoddy gear, it would likely only work once on them due to their adaptive nature. That was one of the most frustrating elements when fighting Viktor's expanding army after all, each one of them could learn from mistakes and self-improve themselves to become resistant to whatever was being thrown at them at the time.

Caitlyn stood ridged as she watched the crowd finish scavenging through the once modest store and begin to drift away from the area to find another target. Some lingered to fight amongst themselves over scraps left behind by the majority, or to contest over the best of the tools that were now considered prized weapons in all but name. It was rare for anyone not to vie for an EMP prod-a modification of a cattle proud used to encourage robotic workers into complacency if their AI went rouge, as well as do minimal repairs from a distance.

More than one man joined the soon to be graveyard where the family once lived, their blood and remains covering the faded tiles and broken shelves. The sheriff bit her lip in dark anticipation as she waited for what was next to come, the real reason that she had stayed glued to the screen all this time. She maneuvered her eye bot to a position higher above the store for a greater vantage point and waited. It would not be long now, they always came by to check out the remains once a mob came though. It would not be long before…there! A sleek, metallic figure made its way through the now empty street, its destination obviously being the decrepit store. It appeared to be an orb which comprised of a large cybernetic eye that scanned the environment intently. It moved swiftly with the long, octopus like tentacles made of plated metal that seemed to be far lighter than it had any right to be with the way in moved.

As it began examining the corpses, Caitlyn slowly guided her drone to move closer and examine the robot more intently. Her breath soon left her mouth with a sigh that was a cross between relief and disappointment. The infiltrator she observed now was not the original one she had encountered before, it was just a slightly smaller copy-though obviously made to fulfill the same purpose. She had hoped to find and even track its movements on the chance to learn of any weakness from it, but all she got was a useless drone for her trouble. In pained her that she had not gone out there to intervene and assist in saving the family, but it was simply too chaotic in the streets now, and given that the store had been on the other side of the city, there was no way she would have made it in time anyway. And so she watched as the robot came across the old man, still crushed under the security bot's frame and felt a cringe of pity as she realized the man was miraculously still alive.

The eye robot began beeping rapidly as it scanned the old man and the burden atop him, seemingly in approval. As he began to protest against in invasion of personal space with the bot hovering right before his face, it emitted a tranquilizing mist and fell still. At that moment Caitlyn heard a rapping at her door and finial managed to tare her eyes away from the screen and turn it off. She did not need to watch any more, she knew what would happen next. The man and any other survivors would be haled back with the robot and then joined with the so called glorious evolution. From the way things were looking, the old man might even be fused with the rust bucket that crushed him from what Caitlyn could infer. That had a strange sort of poetic injustice to it, given how they shared their last moments together.

Shaking her head free of the thoughts for now, she cleared her throat and called out in a weary tone, "Enter."

Jayce moved into the room with a stern expression on his face, wincing ever so slightly as he wheeled into view. He had lost the ability to use his legs after an abrupt ejection from an "Evolution chamber" had damaged his spinal cord. He was devastated afterward, having turned his signature hammer into a wheelchair due to lacking any way to effectively use it now. But if anything he was far more determined to win the war at any cost from then on. He gave her a thin lipped smile before asking, "I assume you just watched the latest feed from the drone I gave you right?"

Caitlyn nodded mutely and idly thumbed the remote which controlled the drone. She had a feeling from the look that Jayce had in his eye that he had come over to talk about something important… though judging by the oddly perfect timing of his arrival, there could be only one thing he wanted to discuss. The inventor reached into his bag and placed a high tech visor with an elegant golden finish on the table, which was connected to a large box strapped to the back of his chair via various multi colored cables. Caitlyn could only groan in annoyance at the now familiar device-though this was the first time she saw the real thing and not blueprints and detailed descriptions. It was the third time this week he brought it to her attention and at this point she was rather sick of hearing about it from him.

"How many times are you going to keep putting plans and models of _**that**_ on my desk Jayce? I have given you my answer several times now. Honestly you are almost as stubborn as Vi seems to be."

Jayce narrowed his eyes in annoyance at being compared to one of the most destructive and vile criminals their city had ever known, and did not appreciate the comment in the least. Still he managed to keep his tone diplomatic regardless.

"I don't know Caitlyn, how many times are you going to watch the people of this city die or worse because you refuse to look at the bigger picture and see this is the only way. And for the record, this time it is the real thing and not just a plan."

Caitlyn narrowed her eyes, her position tense as she began to argue the same debate over again for what felt like the hundredth time.

"_For the record_, if you put that on my desk one more time this week, I am going to arrest you for harassment of an officer and for wasting both our times when we already have so much at stake. Now as we have already discussed, the citizens of Piltover deserve a choice, they deserve to live their lives-and actually _live_ them. What you propose would not only leave them defenseless if they ever were attacked by either the roaming mobs or Viktor's creations, nothing they experience beyond the point they put on that visor will be real. Do you want them to live such hollow lives?"

Jayce slammed his fist on the desk in frustration. "**And just what have they done with that choice** you gave them Caitlyn? They riot in the streets, refuse to work or help solve any of the problems we are facing today out of fear the Evolution Emissaries or in spite of past working conditions I can't say… but this can't go on any longer. I have seen them begin to sacrifice others, even their own to the Evolution emissaries in order to have freer reign of the city where the bots are in control. If we don't get them under control and back to being productive again now, we never will and Piltover will be lost."

The sheriff slammed her own fist on the desk, nearly making her cup of tea spill over as she did so.

"What you propose is slavery Jayce and I won't-"

"_What I propose is escape and hope Sheriff._ We need their collective minds more than they do, it's not like they are getting very innovative at the moment right? I promise you that they will not be in pain or anything like that to force cooperation, they will be in a virtual reality version of the city and given a few…incentives to help restore order to the real city. It's a win-win situation really. They get their comfy old lives back-or maybe even a better life depending on what they did before this all began, and we get the help we need to win this fight. I'm not one to downplay my brain but all the stuff Viktor is throwing at me has gotten me at my wits end. I need help, specifically I need their help."

Jayce sighed and wheeled over to where Caitlyn was standing as she digested his words, and put a hand on her shoulder. "Look I know how much you want this to go back to the way Piltover used to be, before we needed to make all these…ethical choices, but that memory isn't our city today. If we get these out to all the citizens of Piltover, not only will the riots stop, the few that are just too scared to help us will have no reason not to aid our cause. So my question is this; are you fighting for today and yesterday, or do you really want the people looking up to you to have a better tomorrow to look forward to?"

Caitlyn bit back a retort, mostly due to fatigue as the words she had heard a dozen times over echoed in her head. She was so tired of fighting about this, and even more fed up with the fighting between the citizens. It was all so exhausting to deal with on top of her regular intervals of battle with the advancing mechanical forces that at this point she was simply…done with it all.

"Can you…can you promise all the people the security they will need once they go inside that bloody thing?"

Jayce smiled, relieved that his persistence had finally won her over. "Yes, I can do all that and more. Trust me Cait, they will all live happier and safer lives than they have in a long time with my safeguards and security in check. Here try out my first prototype hot off the press so to speak. It's a bit bulk and cumbersome right now but it's not like they will be going anywhere with them on right?"

The woman sighed in defeat before moving over to a nearby intercom. "Captain, ready the men and prepare to neutralize the rioting mobs throughout the city. Be sure to bring an extra tank of knock out gas just to be safe. Also secure a few mass transportation vehicles for afterward. We are taking them to the Brighter Tomorrow Research Facility for… for their own good."

"Yes Caitlyn, should I send a few runners out to distribute the headsets Jayce left for us to give out to the remaining population as well?"

Caitlyn bit her lip as she felt Jayce's gaze on her intently watching her next move. With a curse under her breath, she sighed and spoke again. "Yes… send them out to everyone you can, and be sure to collect their addresses so that Jayce can send his Security bots and other security measures to wherever it is they reside."

"Alright, we will be ready to engage the mobs within the hour. It's nice to finally clean up the streets again."

Caitlyn sighed as she turned away from the device, just in time to see Jayce begin rolling out of her office. "You made the right choice today Caitlyn, good to see you know how to use reason and not just resistance." He chuckled jovially as he left, obviously elated that he would be the 'Hero' of Piltover once again despite his disability making him think otherwise.

Caitlyn sipped the dregs of her cold tea before allowing the cup to slip from her fingers, shattering as it hit the floor. Normally she would be horrified to lose one of her precious cups, and not have been so clumsy in the first place, but it was all too much right now. She looked down at her hand, lost in thought as she reached for the prototype visor Jayce had left on her desk. Without the power supply attached, it was nothing more than a fancy bauble-one that fit remarkably well over her face now that she thought about it. Had Jayce gotten a measurement for her face somehow? It was improbable but not impossible with the technology in their city. The thought sent an eerie shiver of distaste down her spine, had Jayce been so desperate for her approval and assistance that he would resort to such methods? Normally she would dismiss the idea off the bat, but lately Jayce seemed so strained and fixated on his work, especially after the impromptu rescue. Perhaps he had…no he would not stoop so low, even now. Caitlyn did not know of any reason why the man would have any sort of ulterior motive behind his actions, and had to put the matter to rest for now. It would not do to fall prey to paranoia now.

Still if there was one thing she did know, it was that there was no way that the visor on her face now was the true first prototype of its kind. Which meant there had to have been other tests before this gear was created-but she had never even heard of or imagined the possibility of this level of hextech until now. What had happened to the previous testers and why did Jayce never mention them? So many questions raced through her mind as she contemplated what that could possibly mean, but one question was prevalent over all others.

"Did I truly make the right choice to save these people, or have I set them on the path to a life worse than even this living hell?"


End file.
